Do you really think that people who are critical of Clarence Thomas don't use the n word? It seems to me that every time his name comes up in the leftosphere it's to refer to him as the GOP's house n****r or similar (concededly some of the better bred make do with calling him an uncle tom, but that doesn't seem to me to be much of a concession). From all reports I've seen, black conservatives are routinely subject to that kind of language from self-described liberals.

All these arguments seem to get a free ride off of nigger, a word that ``everybody agrees'' is so far out of bounds that it can't even be written.

Blacks, the theory is, are such children that it must constantly be only alluded to.

And here's the point : just as women are children.

So you cannot say bitch, just as you cannot say nigger.

The reason nigger comes up so much is because it's so handy for this. It's the most universal example, even more than Hitler now.

I myself don't agree with everybody (everybody agreed that Imus should have been fired, just in the same way : somehow the discussion was over before it began. A point of order was not raised, and a voice vote without voices was already held). My own feeling is that blacks can take it, and that women can take it.

There's political opportunity though in pretending that you can't take it.

So that's what you see, and it takes over a whole forum that depends on this assumption : blacks are children, and women are children. And they ought to be kept that way.

"On , November 9, the entire Osmond family appeared on stage with Oprah Winfrey as a tribute to their patriarch. The show aired the following day, which was also the day of Mr. Osmond's funeral."

"Later, on November 14, Marie Osmond told Larry King, her son was taken to Rehab, but she made sure to tell King-- this son was the "adopted" one. And so, as Marie explained, his problems are not a reflection on her, or her parenting, they way they'd be if the son was one of her biological children."

Not Lat said..."A comment about almost watching a blog about almost asking John McCain a question: if you can't be bothered to ask, I can't be bothered to watch."

One can (inter alia) "almost" ask a question but ultimately not bother or "almost" ask a question but not have the opportunity to do so. It's the latter that's at issue here, but we should remember that for the ADS victim, the assumption answer is always the one where Althouse can be thought to be lazy, stupid, drunk, etc. It's quite pathetic, really.

Last clothes comment. I have pretty sure you in all black would work well also.

Hopefully, now being a temporary New Yorker this is a staple in your wardrobe.

All black always works, never goes out of fashion, and is very New York. You can never go wrong in all black, unless you have some f'ed up hair or makeup, which you don't. Actually, all black and with bad accoutrements can be a disaster. Remember with all black, think minimal on the appliances, preferably all silver, but modest application of the jewelry. And never all black with gold-major faux pas. The only thing you can be a little more daring with in all black is some bold lipstick.

Yes, I've worn berets. As I said in that SF post about the hat store, I love women's hats but they never fit me unless they stretch. A beret is one type of hat that stretches. I have two berets -- one red and one -- as they say in the song -- raspberry. Black would be good though.

I've been wearing a lot of black since at least the 80s. As for jewelry, I never wear more than one necklace or a pair of earrings. No rings, no bracelets, nothing weighing down my hands, and never both a necklace and earrings, which looks way too planned and dressed up.

Everyone will leave with a "take home" platter of the entire meal (I anticipate enough for 2-4 meals each) with samples of each dish-food dish, not a sample of me the dish. Each will be wrapped in a fabulous box by the illegal help, along with a Pear Frangipane Tart.No food will be left at my house because I don't eat leftovers.

There will be two servers and 1 chef and one bartender. When we are eating they will have to not be seen.

You must admit that if you did a vlog where you talked politics while shoe shopping ( for expensive NYC shoes of course! ) it would make the wingnuts spin around like...like...yes, wingnuts, and make some of the other commenters swoon over the sheer girliness of it all!

That is really pretty hot and amazing. Giselle is beautiful and amazing and Tom is out of this world. He's a pretty good quarterback too. Too bad about his first girlfriend, who just had his child, but hello it's Giselle.

Titus your menu is fantastic. I espeically like the bacon wrapped scallops, the soups and variety of your desserts. It sounds like you will have a great time. Well balanced and tasty, you made some terrific choices.

Maxine Weiss - Marie Osmond told Larry King, her son was taken to Rehab, but she made sure to tell King-- this son was the "adopted" one. And so, as Marie explained, his problems are not a reflection on her, or her parenting, they way they'd be if the son was one of her biological children."

Unfortunately, those that say nurture and good adoptive family upbringing will alsways triumph over nature have to - all to frequently - acknowledge the genetic reality of "the bad seed".

The child who is adopted may come with a genetic disposition to drug abuse, violent behavior, amoral impulsive acts - and no amount of good parenting and "expert child psychologists" can fix it.

The phenomenon is well documented. Child from "bad" family is adopted into well-to-do family and lags behind their natural siblings in all ways. Nothing the family does reverses it. Natural children all go on to great success, the adoptive child fails or worse, harms themselves or others.

The most famous recent example was David Berkowitz - who the "nurture" people were convinced was made that way by bad nurturing until the looked into a family that did very well but for David.

An adoptive child of a wealthy, noted family of bankers and academics in CT was one of the ones involved in the horrific home invasion where a doctor's 2 young daughters and wife were savagely raped and killed.

At Duke, there is the famous story of Bem Holloway, who his black professor parents adopted at 1 1/2 and grew up to be a serial killer and rapist while his natural sibling is now one of America's leading young theoretical physicists.

A veternarian friend of mine in Tennessee adopted through a Christian agency. Baby of a single mom Florida trailer trash meth addict, pusher, and armed robber who was stripped of custody. The kid was a nightmare from the time he could walk. Their other 3 kids, including 2 born after him, are stars in school and popular. After tens of thousands in tutoring, child psychologists, paying for his neighborhood vandalism and settling lawsuits for his injuring two kids - the adopted kid then cut his wife with a knife after she disciplined him. They essentially gave up then and had the kid sent to a year-round school for troubled kids.

Of course many adoptions work out well. But people who adopt now know fairly well there is a genetic risk of getting a real bad apple - and are becoming more insistant on adoption agencies informing them if either biological parent has history of criminal activity, mental or physical disease, and their socioeconomic status. And, while many agencies still refuse that - they find many potential adoptive parents will then go overseas where they have better odds of getting those queries honestly answered.

So Marie Osmond is correct in making the disclaimer that - in her opinion - the failures of the adoptive kid have nothing to do with the quality of nurturing they got in her otherwise successful family. Not especially for her sake - but for preserving the reputation and good name of her biological kids and their careers - especially since they work in public venues where their reputation and good name is very important.

Do we have to beat the bitch? Why can't we just spank her, slowly and lovingly, for her own good? Because she has been a very, very naughty candidate lately. You put her over your knee and slap her on the rump as she struggles dramatically but oh so ineffectively. You start slowly and then gradually increase the tempo as she struggles "Oh you mean, mean man. Stop it. Stop it." Her buttocks tingle with a mixture of pleasure and pain as she looks over her shoulder..and suddenly she sits up and grabs you ....and then....and then....it's "Time to Turn Up the Heat."This message was not approved by the John McCain for President Committee.

Titus, no dark meat?In my family, you can never have enough gravy, which is difficult to get from breasts, particularly tom turkeys, ha ha.You'll have enough desserts for 50.Will you have room for a vomitorium, or post-prandial naps for 10?

Regarding the adoptive children. If the mother at this late stage is still distinguishing between her bio kids and her adoptive kids do you think maybe, just maybe, there's a little difference in the way the child has been reared?

ADDRESS BY THOMAS J.P. COURTNEY BEFORE THE YONKERS BOARD OF EDUCATION ON WEDNESDAY,11-14-07

" We're getting old, retiring. Yet you teachers have done such a poor job teaching that we have no competent-enough workers to help pay our retirement costs. All you teachers with cushy retirement packages, you who have failed utterly, do not deserve such largess. And you will be one of the first groups targeted to have your benefits reduced. According to your own statistics, Yonkers Public School students are 82% minority. But despite billions, Yonkers schools continue to fail -more and more each year. Special Ed students are now 16% or more and cost far more than regular students. Everybody knows it is harder to teach kids from single-parent -fatherless- families. But why do we have these problems ? Harvard Medical School Psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint noted that 80% of black children born in 1940 were to 2-parent families, but that percentage dropped to 30% in 2003. Commedian and TV star Bill Cosby said "lower income people are not holding up their end of the bargain". Why ? I'll tell you why. It is the nonsense you teachers teach. Male and female, boys and girls are not equal. "

Taken from Westchester Times Tribune,10-31-07; supporting documentation.

" Status of the Yonkers Public Schools The Trustees are absent and disengaged.The Superintendent is simplythe Mayor's de-facto department head Mayoral / City Council actionscontinue to politicize the school system for obvious personal gain.... Funding shortages persist and funding allocations are being misdirected or covered up.... Collapse of the Adult Basic Education program... no audit by Phil 'see no problem'  Zisman, the same I.G. who found nothing in the YPA/college scamming tuition program. Overstaffing at Central Office of political friends on the business side and personal friends of the Superintendent on the academic side... Return to yesteryear, as Pierorazio pulls in every retiree from hisbygone days into his inner circle to watch his back as the ***school systemslowly deteriorates.*** Senior Central Office staff, along with senior administrators with experience, are nearly all gone; Pierorazio's answer is to restaff with out of towners.Teachers continue to run most schools, especially the elementary."Is there hope for the Yonkers BoE. Not with the feminist way they're going.

Titus, nice menu! I thought I'd share an interesting one a bunch of us are doing. So I looked at the menu my wife is hashing out...some things tenative...somethings that might get crossed out...

This year my wife and a few of our friends are doing an "authentic" menu from the 1700's. 4 couples. 7 kids from young to 20-ish single slackers.

Part of it depends on if I and a few pals are successful hunting and fishing. Fortunately, one Bambi got whacked this past weekend, we can get plenty of shellfish, the question is if we can get any striped bass, late run blues or weakfish, tautog. More Bambi would be nice as we only get a 1/4 of the one bagged.

Heirloom Indian squash with sassafras seasoning.Fish head, fishbone soup,(sans any bluefish caught) periwinkles, limpets, any crab we can catch, with parsnips and wild greens. Touch of scarce valuable Malabar curry added to soup for special occasion.

Non-alcholic cider Hard Cider.Reg cider with rare Spice Island flavorings, dark rum .Mediera and Port wine.Local fresh spring water drawn that day by the "squaws"(Coke and fruit juice concession for a few younger kids).(With me springing for 68 bucks worth of stoneware mugs guests can keep)

Dessert:

Apple dumplings with honey baked in the fire.Dried apples, cherries in cottled cream.Mince pie soaked in rum.Apple pie made with honey.Nuts of the Day - pecans, hickory, American chestnut, black walnuts gathered locally or bought (pecans from Louisiana roadside stop and American chestnuts from Italy)(Ice cream - concession for a few younger kids)We will have kids try to pop some Indian hard red-ear and multi-color corn in the fire.

Adult dessert: More booze and hanging by fire after dinner with authentic natural Indian tobacco with colonial-era clay pipes. (One of the people attending bought the tobacco and pipes when visiting a Native American reservation for the usual reason - casino gambling.)

Note: If you look at, research, what the Indians ate, it was from a very limited menu. They knew nothing of most of the food and spices we take for granted. And colonists had about 1/10 of the menu availability we have today..

Cedarford, I love that menu! I always try to do a "period" Thanksgiving; this year it's an austere 17th century one, with the maize and venison and Puritanism.

Actually all the menus sound great...

I'm going to cook some game birds: guinea-hens and pheasant wrapped in bacon and roasted with juniper; and a small turkey cooked with Cipollini onions, citrons and rosemary. Some corn bread and salt cod, cranberry jelly with Seville oranges, roasted pumpkin soup, venison medallions cooked in blackberry jelly and goatsmilk cream.

To drink will be some claret and Hypocras (which I made last month), which is a medieval spice-filled wine. And Perrier. And maybe Diet Coke.

Personally, I don't see any reason why that word should ever be used at all.

If the matter being brought up is gender-specific, then why not say 'that woman?' And if it's not, then the use of the word, 'b****' appears to be an appeal to the lowest of base instincts, in what is presumably a mostly male audience (as in fact GOP primary voters, taken as a group, are by a small majority.)

The word, 'b****' is patently offensive to a lot of people (and not just women) and frankly other than to get headlines, there is absolutely no reason why a man who wants to be the President of the United States would ever want to be associated with it.

I'd suggest that Sen. McCain ask his wife about it, except that I'm sure that Cindy McCain, daughter of Jim Hensley, who worked for Kemper Marley and was a close associate of other mob figures, has likely seen a lot worse.

2. The new photo is a screen capture from the vlog, emailed to me a reader, who titled it, based on the look.

3. "Totally OT, but I did like that other picture much more. On this new one, you're looking a bit too serious, Althouse..." But I am Serious Althouse. The thing about the other picture is that I don't think it looks enough like me.

4. I would normally wear a necklace, but I just didn't. For lots of necklace, see the previous vlog.

5. The menu looks great. I like that there are so many vegetables. I think many people will overeat at the appetizer stage and miss out on the better parts of the meal. Also, I don't know if I would want to smell all that seafood on Thanksgiving. Is that appetizing? I detest scallops. And Brussels sprouts. But Brussels sprouts are impressive -- being elaborate little cabbages -- and scallops are repellent -- what a pathetic form for an animal! They're like manufactured, imitation seafood, but somehow they came from the ocean (where I would leave them).

Well, I made it back to California! My plane didn't explode! I've always had a fear of flying, a fear that was enhanced after I flew on 9/10/2001.

All this talk about Thanksgiving is making me starving. Thankfully, I'm a svelte 165 pounds and can eat whatever I want! But here's a tip to all you dieters and doughboys...instead of gravy, drown your turkey in soy sauce..trust me! And use fat free cheese, milk, and butter in EVERYTHING, no one will know the difference. After you've gorged yourself, go for a brisk 45-minute walk around the block. It gives you time away from your insane family, plus time to sneak a ciggie or a shot of whiskey. Works every time for me.

Ann, sadly, I don't like the new picture. You have a nice smile and the new shot makes you look somewhat melancholy. And, despite what some people say, wearing all black isn't always a wise move, especially for us blonds. All black can totally wash us out, those of us with light hair and pale complexions...so be careful. Always add a splash of color (never gold, though, I agree) and make sure your blacks match (i.e., the shades of black in your top/pants match)...there is NOTHING worse than wearing two different shades of black! Ugg!

Happy pre-Thanksgiving weekend...looking forward to the debate tonight in Vegas.

I guess this won't fit in with the overall theme of the comments (as this is actually related to the topic :) ) but I don't quite get how McCain considers CNN's stating that he should have distanced himself from the comment as "biased." Do you think, if Kerry was asked during the '04 race "How do we get rid of the retarded asshole?" and laughed and said "excellent question", we would have ever heard the end of it? It's simply a matter of civility in politics, which apparently continues to disappear.